The Search for Selfhood in Modern Literature

The Search for Selfhood in Modern Literature

Also by Murray Roston PROPHET AND POET: The Bible and the Growth of Romanticism BIBLICAL DRAMA IN ENGLAND: From the Middle Ages to the Present Day THE SOUL OF WIT: A Study of John Donne MILTON AND THE BAROQUE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH LITERATURE RENAISSANCE PERSPECTIVES: In Literature and the Visual Arts CHANGING PERSPECTIVES: In Literature and the Visual Arts, 1650 1820 VICTORIAN CONTEXTS: Literature and the Visual Arts MODERNIST PATTERNS: In Literature and the Visual Arts

The Search for Selfhood in Modern Literature Murray Roston

Murray Roston 2001 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2001 978-0-333-76334-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2001 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-41455-0 ISBN 978-0-230-59717-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230597174 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roston, Murray. The search for selfhood in modern literature / Murray Roston. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-349-41455-0 1. American literature 20th century History and criticism. 2. Self in literature. 3. English literature 20th century History and criticism. 4. Identity (Psychology) in literature. 5. Existentialism in literature. 6. Spiritual life in literature. 7. Individualism in literature. 8. Antiheroes in literature. 9. Humanism in literature. I. Title. PS228.S36 R67 2001 810.9 384 dc21 2001024589 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01

Contents Acknowledgements vi 1 The Crisis of Identity 1 2 Commissar and Priest 50 3 The Adolescent Rebel 100 4 Innovative Drama 142 5 Terminal 181 Notes Select Bibliography Index 221 240 245 v

Acknowledgements I should like to express my thanks once again to the members of the English department at UCLA and especially to their chair, Professor Thomas Wortham, for their unfailing kindness and hospitality on my frequent visits to the department. My home university has been consistently helpful in granting me leave to teach and research there. I am grateful also to Ms Eleanor Birne and Mr Keith Povey for their valuable editorial advice and assistance. Some of the material in the chapter on Philip Roth was delivered at a Fulbright conference held in India and appeared subsequently in The Asian Response to American Literature, published by the Fulbright Foundation. Finally, as always, my deep affection and thanks to my wife Faith, for her cheerful support, her ever-ready humour, and her delightful company. Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel Murray Roston vi